Legalising recreational cannabis use is not in the immediate plans of the Queensland government despite the state's ruling Labor party voting for the policy last year and growing support for it nationally and globally.
Labor's state conference in November backed a motion to legalise the possession of small quantities of the drug for personal use.
The resolution also called for pill testing at locations such as festivals, and a full review of the law enforcement approach to personal drug use compared to the costs and benefits of an alternate, diversionary approach.
The Queensland government has no immediate plan to respond to the vote, saying it has many other more serious priorities, but is committed to eventually reviewing the state's drug laws in the future.
"The Palaszczuk government has committed to exploring how we can improve the criminal justice system to provide a broader range of available responses to low-harm offending and ensure that the system concentrates the resources of courts and prisons on the most serious matters," a spokesperson for Acting Attorney-General Meaghan Scanlon told AAP in a statement.
"In response to the second report published by the Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce, the Queensland government said that it would give consideration to the need to review the Drugs Misuse Act 1986."
Support has been growing nationally and around the world for legalising and decriminalising recreational marijuana.
RMIT researcher Jarryd Bartle said the Legalise Cannabis Australia party had picked up between two and seven per cent of the senate vote in most states and the Northern Territory in the May federal election.
He also noted that support for legalisation grew from 21 per cent of Australians in 2007 to 41 per cent in 2019, according to the National Drug Household Survey.
Pro-cannabis parties hold the balance of power in Victoria's upper house after the December state election, but that state government has no plans to change drug laws.
A bid by two Legalise Cannabis Western Australia MPs to change drug laws was also ruled out in June as "not a priority" by Labor Premier Mark McGowan.
The ACT government legalised cannabis for personal use in 2019, and will support a private members bill to decriminalise small amounts of illicit drugs including cocaine, heroin and MDMA.
Across the ditch, New Zealanders voted against legalisation in a 2020 referendum by a margin of 0.17 per cent, with just under 68,000 votes making the difference.
Recreational marijuana is fully legal in Canada, Georgia, Malta, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Uruguay, and 21 US states, two territories, and Washington DC.
Cannabis has also been decriminalised in Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Austria, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Belize, Bermuda, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Dominica, Estonia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Luxembourg, Moldova, The Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland and Trinidad and Tobago.
